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Romans Time it was the Station of the Mauri
Aureliani, a Band of Soldiers, so called because they were
sent hither by the Emperor Aurelian. King Henry I.
gave it Privileges equal to York that city's Charter being
granted, as 'tis said, in the Forenoon, and this in the Afternoon
of the same Day. It has the same Privileges still, its Charter
having been confirmed by King Henry II. and also by King
Henry III. (in whose Time there was an Exchequer here) and
by the succeeding Kings of England. In the Reign of King
Edward I. it had a Mayor and two Provosts, who sign'd the
publick Acts of the Town together with the Mayor, tho' at present
they only attend the Mayor with two Halberds. Brompton
makes mention of Applebyshire, and 'tis supposed that it
had once Sheriffs of its own, as most Cities had; or else that
Westmoreland was called the County of Appleby or
Applebyshire. In the 22d of Henry II. it was set on
Fire by the Scots, as it was again in the 12th of
Richard II. In 1598 it was also a great Sufferer by a
Pestilence, and so depopulated, as appears from an Inscription
placed in the Garden belonging to the School-house, describing
those Calamities, which it has never yet recovered, that the
Market was removed to Gilshaughlin, four or five Miles
from the Town. William King of Scots took this
Town, and the Burgh under Stanemore by Suprize, a little
before himself was taken at Alnwick; but they were
afterward recovered by King John, who gave the Castle and
Barony of this Town and the Burgh to John de Vipont, whose
Family and that of the Cliffords have been Lords of this
County, and flourished at this Place for above 500 Years. Its
Market is on Saturdays, and Fairs on Whit monday,
May 30, and June 10.
The Assizes are held here in the Town-hall, but the Goal for
Malefactors, which was formerly in the Castle, is now at the End
of the Bridge. Here is the best Corn-market in all these northern
Parts; but the chief Beauty of the Town consists in one broad
Street, which runs with an easy Ascent from North and South; at
the Head whereof is the Castle, almost surrounded with the River,
and with Trenches, where the River comes not. At the Lower-end of
the Town are the Church, and a School built by Robert
Langton and Miles Spencer, Doctors of
Law,
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